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New Euro digi chief says he WILL consider an EU-wide copyright law

But sets ridiculously tight timeframe for it, say sources

Europe’s new digi chief Gunther H. Oettinger has said that he could have a first draft of new copyright laws within six months.

Oetti made the comments to the German Bundestag committee on the Digital Agenda on Tuesday, but with the German barely through the door of his new office at the European Commission – he officially started as Digital Commissioner on Saturday – the timescale seems overly ambitious.

A public consultation on copyright has already been carried out, but with more than 10,000 comments and suggestions it will take more than a few short months to analyse.

Most strikingly, Oetti didn’t rule out the possibility of a single European copyright regulation; a law that would be directly applied across the whole EU, unlike the current Copyright Directive which varies from country to country.

Meanwhile, a draft from the council meeting of member states encourages the commission “to consider all possible options” in intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement. It highlighted the need for tools to identify IPR infringers and wants closer examination of the role of intermediaries in assisting the fight against IPR infringement – that could be anyone from file-sharing sites to internet services providers.

On the record Oettinger says copyright framework must be adapted to digital age, but that a balance between the interests of the user and content provider must be struck. ®

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